A tall prospect with a small name

Most fans of baseball history are aware of the story of Eddie Gaedel, the only little person to appear in a major league game. At 3-foot-7, Gaedel was the subject of a publicity stunt by baseball's master of publicity stunts, Bill Veeck, who was then the owner of the sad-sack St. Louis Browns. Gaedel pinch-hit in the first inning of the back end of a doubleheader, drew a walk on four pitches -- the pitcher, Bob Cain, apparently laughing too hard to throw a strike -- and was removed for a pinch-runner. The next day, American League president Will Harridge voided Gaedel's contract, although by that point Veeck had already achieved his objective.

The story may have another chapter, however. Gaedel's great-nephew, Kyle Gaedele, is a 6-foot-4 outfielder for Valparaiso and was drafted late in 2008 by the Tampa Bay Rays. He's draft-eligible again this year and is interesting but unpolished, a top 200 talent but probably not a top 100 talent, or roughly a fourth- to sixth-rounder.

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ABOUT THIS BLOG

Keith Law

Keith Law joined ESPN.com in June 2006 as the lead baseball analyst for Scouts Inc., covering the majors, minors and amateurs. He appears regularly across the ESPN family of networks, providing analysis on all baseball topics.

Before joining ESPN, Law spent 4½ years with the Toronto Blue Jays as a special assistant to the general manager, and was previously a writer for Baseball Prospectus. He graduated from Harvard College and holds an MBA from the Tepper School of Business at Carnegie Mellon.

He also writes about food, literature, and other subjects on his personal site, The Dish. Check it out here.